ALL will soon move into its new location at 307 Market St., in the Gates Block building, which Lowell developer and contractor Nick Sarris has renovated over the past year. The building was previously occupied by Merrimack Rug and Linoleum Co., before the company merged with Durkin's Carpeting and Interiors, and moved to Appleton Street in 2010.

"All the windows, doors, trim and exterior fabric were restored back to what it looked like when the building was originally built," Sarris said.

The four-story, 16,000-square-foot building has 36 separate working artist studios on the top three floors, with each studio ranging from 138 to 460 square feet.

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The ground floor includes a 2,200-square-foot gallery space, a classroom and an artist's supply store, Van Gogh's Gear, which is owned by Syverson and already open after its move from its previous home on Middle Street.

Sarris said he's aiming to have the rest of the building ready by June 1.

Each tenant will have 24-hour keycard access to the facility. Every room will include individual heat and air-conditioning control, which Sarris and Syverson said is a relative rarity in art studios.

A look at the second floor at 307 Market St., the new home of the Arts League of Lowell. The four-story, 16,000 square-foot building has 36 separate working artist studios on the top three floors, with each studio ranging from 138 to 460 square feet. SUN/David H. Brow

"We wanted to do something with the studios to make them that much more appealing to prospective artists," Syverson said.

Sarris said the rents "are still comparable to other typical artist spaces, in spite of the amenities we offer."

The building, which is 60 percent occupied so far, will house artists from all different media, including photography, painting, metalworking and even music production.

The gallery will hold its grand opening Saturday, May 11, with a collector's show from 7 to 10 p.m. For the show, which is open to the public, seven major Lowell art collectors will bring their favorite works done by Arts League members, and each of the selected members will bring a new work of theirs to showcase.

The building at 307 Market St., the longtime home of Merrimack Rug and Linoleum Company, has been gutted and renovated as the new home of the Arts League of Lowell.
SUN/David H. Brow

"We hope it will be a place where our members can congregate and show their work to each other, along with the public," Syverson said.

Adam Baacke, Lowell's assistant city manager and director of planning and development, thinks the renovation will be another success for Sarris, who has redeveloped more than 1.5 million square feet of commercial real estate in downtown Lowell in the past 50 years.

"It's great to see such a spectacular piece of architecture being brought back to life," Baacke said. "One thing that appeals to artists is the architecture of the city, and Lowell's really been a leader in identifying reuse potential of these historic buildings."

ALL was incorporated in 2004 and has more than 200 active members. Just a few will have their own personal studio space, but all will have a place they can call home.

"We have things like the new lighting system, which allows us to light every square inch of the gallery at will. We never had that before," Syverson said. "We used to have to work around the boundaries of our space. Now we've made our own boundaries."

Follow Pete McQuaid on Twitter @sweetestpete.

The gallery in the new home of the Arts League of Lowell. SUN/David H. Brow

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